


Then and Now

by livrelibre



Category: Skim
Genre: Character of Color, Chromatic Character, F/F, Femslash, POV Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-25
Updated: 2010-12-25
Packaged: 2017-10-14 02:21:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/144289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livrelibre/pseuds/livrelibre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kim and Katie, post-canon-a Yuletide treat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Then

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sutlers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sutlers/gifts), [idella](https://archiveofourown.org/users/idella/gifts).



> Note: Brief reference to suicide
> 
> Many thanks to friendshipper for the super-quick last minute beta! All errors are my own.

Katie hung out over at her house almost all the time now. They watched Monty Python and 'Allo 'Allo and Doctor Who or played music or Kim would do tarot readings (from a new deck that Katie brought over one day with no comment). Sometimes they just lay around, Katie reading magazines and Kim doodling, silent except for when they exchanged papers to point something out.

Weirdly it wasn't awkward, not as much as she thought it would be, and she and Katie had more in common than she ever would have guessed. Katie liked drawing too and was pretty good at pen and ink sketches. She made some of Kim lying on her bed or absorbed in the cards--the way she drew her, Kim almost felt graceful, beautiful. She scoffed when she saw them but kept the sheets folded up and tucked away and brought them out sometimes to look at when Katie wasn't there.

Katie had a goofy sense of humor and cracked on GCL and did dead-on impressions of Julie Peters that made Kim snort soda out of her nose. With Katie around, Kim didn't mind so much that she only saw Lisa sometimes in the hall or that she called mostly to talk about that boy she was seeing. Katie didn't care about boys so much now, which Kim figured might be a side effect of your only boyfriend dumping you and then committing suicide because he was gay. She didn't think about any other reasons.

But Katie told her one day, when they were lying on Kim's bed listening to the Beatles' Blackbird, that she'd always felt like she and John were just skating over the surface of things; when she'd gone up on the roof that day, she’d finally let him and all the surface things go as she was tumbling to the ground. Kim told her haltingly, looking at the ceiling, about Mrs. Archer.

When she was done and the ceiling shimmered slightly, Katie just reached over and twined her fingers with Kim's and they lay there silently, letting the music curl around them.


	2. Now

Kim swore she'd never go back to high school after she left and now here she was drinking a glass of wine too quickly in the be-streamered gym listening to "It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday" pump out of scratchy speakers at her 15th reunion. She didn't know why the hell she was even here, besides her promise to Katie not to ditch. More precisely, Katie had said "Don't you leave me to the vultures, bitch. If I have to come back to show everyone how destroyed I'm not and how absolutely fucking fierce I am now, you do too. And besides stunning them with what successful hotasses we are together, I also need somebody else to appreciate how plastic Julie Peters has inevitably gotten. Schadenfreude never tastes good alone." So here she was.

Katie was supposed to meet her there after a work meeting, but she was running late as per usual and Kim was gonna have to strangle her slowly. She'd taken her time getting her badge and then taking a tour around the school. It had all gotten smaller and grungier than she remembered (and it had never been impressive in her memory anyway). The pictures of the current flock of sheep grazing the halls had only made her feel more ancient (even ancienter than the terrible yearbook photo on her badge; god, she'd looked like a calf being led to the slaughter). Standing at the edge of the gym, she wondered what had possessed her to come back and not leave Katie to the wolves, besides the obvious.

And speaking of wolves, here came Julie Peters now, attached to a guy who was a quarterback going to fat if Kim ever saw one. She'd bet fifty bucks he owned a car dealership or something. Julie, true to Katie's word, looked botoxed to within an inch of her life and was squeezed into a junior prom gown that wouldn't have been out of place on someone half her age.

"Skim!" she squealed, her voice cutting above the tinny speakers. 'It’s so good to see you!" Falser words were never spoken but then that was Julie for you. "You look so different. I guess we can call you Slim now, huh?"

In times past, Kim would have barely refrained from rolling her eyes at this witticism; it wasn't the first time she'd heard it since her late growth spurt and it wouldn't be the last. She wasn't supermodel skinny but the added height had settled her more into statuesque beauty and she knew well enough she was what people tended to call striking now. And she'd long since stopped caring or reining in or refraining at all, so she did roll her eyes.

Julie plowed onwards as ever and asked,"So how are you?! I haven't seen you for ages."

And you wouldn't have now if I had seen you first, Kim thought.

"I'm good. I moved away after college and went to McGill. I'm a commercial illustrator and I do fine art on the side." Kim refrained from mentioning her successful gallery shows-- no need to brag.

"Oh that's so interesting. Anything I would have seen?"

"Only if you read the New Yorker." The dig sailed right past Julie, as Kim had known it would.

"That is so great, Kim. I always knew you would be a success. I got my MBA and met Brad here in college. We just had our 10th anniversary last year." Brad looked like he was eyeing the (already spiked) punch bowl for escape, but turned briefly at his name. Kim sympathized; she felt a beeline for booze coming on herself.

"Are you here with anyone?" Julie looked fake sympathetic in anticipation, and ready to zero in for the kill. Kim gritted her teeth and fake smiled.

"Actually I-"

"Honey, so sorry I kept you waiting! The opposing attorney was such an asshole!"

Katie swooped past Brad stage left, magnificent in black D&G, and slid in beside Kim. Kim had only a moment to take in Katie in full-on glitter mode before she casually laid an arm around her shoulders and planted the full Katie special on her. Though Katie was blocking her view (god bless her wife), Kim could have sworn she heard Julie's jaw drop. Katie let her up for air a discreet few seconds later, just long enough for Julie to get the full effect--and Kim too. Julie looked like the definition of poleaxed.

Katie did an elegant double take and said "Why, Julie Peters! How long has it been? How are you?"

Julie stammered, "Fine How are you? I didn't know you and Kim-uh--" Here she stalled out and Kim took a moment of wicked satisfaction.

"Oh Kim and I have been together for years now, since college and married in '05. And you, is this your partner?"

Julie stammered through introductions to Brad (who looked considerably more interested now--asshat) and then scuttled off to recover (and gossip). Katie and Kim watched her go with a falsely sweet "Bye now!"

"You are wicked." Kim poked her in the side.

"I know, babe, but that was priceless, and the whole point of coming." Kim had to admit it was. "Did you see her face? She'll need extra surgery to get her eyebrows out of her hairline."

Kim snorted.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to leave you to the wolves but the case really did run late. God, I need a drink. Let's grab some spiked punch, scandalize a few more people, catch up with Lisa and Anna, and then head out. I've got plans for you."

"Do you now?"

"Yeah, I have a cheerleader's outfit with your name on it."

Katie smacked her ass and they headed to the punch table.


End file.
